Related link

NEW YORK >> The highly anticipated investment requirements for potential casino developers applying for licenses were released Monday morning at a meeting of the state Gaming Commission’s Location Board.

Compared to projected figures already announced by several bidders, the mandatory investments are lower than expected.

There are three regions in upstate New York where four licenses will be awarded, including the Capital Region, which has a minimum capital investment of $135 million.

In Albany, Rochester real estate developer David Flaum has proposed a casino resort with an investment between $300 million and $400 million.

In Dutchess and Orange counties, the board announced a minimum capital investment of $350 million. In the Southern Tier, bidders in Broome, Chemung, Schuyler, Tioga or Tompkins counties have a mandatory investment of $85 million, but their competition in Wayne or Seneca counties will have to ante up a minimum $135 million capital investment.

The siting board said it “reviewed data on recently constructed and proposed gaming facilities in various states” as well as in-state Native American gaming facilities. Data included “nearby adult population, estimated total investment and, where applicable, required minimum investment in such gaming facilities.”

Also considered, according to the siting board’s release, was economic and financial models based on estimated gross gaming revenues for likely locations and “accepted industry operating margins, debt-to-equity ratios and rates of return.”

There is a “wide range of market comparables for both total investment and required minimum investment,” including the developers’ “ability to create amenities and features that will have wide appeal and can successfully be marketed as a destination to populations having a higher average disposable income.”

“In addition, the board’s determination of minimum capital investment was influenced by its desire to balance the goal of encouraging competition in order to preserve the integrity of the selection process with the goal of maximizing the economic benefits to the state and each region that are associated with high-quality, large-scale destination resorts,” the board said in a statement.

Twenty-one entities paid the state’s $1 million application fee. The application is due June 30.

The applicants have five days from Monday to withdraw their application and get the fee refunded to them.